In the helicopter art, and in other fields, apparatus has been provided to retain the cyclic stick, or other control rod, in its midposition during ground operation. However, all such prior art permanently lacks the cyclic stick fixedly in the midposition and the lock has to be removed before the cyclic stick can be moved from its midposition. In this prior art, the cyclic stick cannot be moved from its midposition by merely having the pilot manually override the restraint means. Examples of this prior art are Berquist U.S. Pat. No. 2,967,681, Miller U.S. Pat. No. 1,423,955, Fenlon U.S. Pat. No. 144,823 and Hendrick U.S. Pat. No. 1,338,131. This prior art accordingly has neither position "feel" nor override capability.